|
|
|
|
RILEY FRANKLIN MCCONNELL, CAPTAIN USN The following information on the life and career of Riley F. McConnell was obtained from various history books, from the Mormon Church genealogy records, from U. S. Census records, from several personal interviews and from personal information available to the authors. Born: Scott County, Virginia on July 22, 1884 (Refs 1-3). Father: James Hopkins (Hop) McConnell (May 30, 1858 – June 8, 1928). Mother: Polly Alley McConnell (January 31, 1867 – April 12, 1958). Graduated from U. S. Naval Academy on June 6, 1907 (Refs 1, 2, 4). Final Permanent Rank: Captain USN (Ref 5) Died: San Diego, California on July 12, 1940. He was the Commandant of the San Diego Naval Base at the time of his death (Refs 2, 6, 7, 8). Buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Section 2, Grave 4832, Grid V 31 (Ref 9). Riley married Grace Otteson on September 26, 1911 at Arlington, Virginia. She was born in 1888 and graduated from Smith College in June of 1911. They had no children (Refs 1, 2, 10). Grace died in 1980 and was buried beside Riley in Arlington National Cemetery. Riley had a brother (Leland Stanford McConnell) and two sisters (Clara McConnell who married W. A. Broadwater and Imogene McConnell who married Joseph Hartsock) (Ref 4). Clara and her husband, Bill Broadwater, had 11 children and Riley was very fond of his nieces and nephews. He sent letters, Christmas cards and gifts from his many duty stations in the US as well as on his foreign assignments. In his communications, he was always very encouraging to his young relatives to get a good education and to make something out of their lives (Ref 11). In return, these descendents have great respect and love for Riley. His nephews (Riley Franklin Broadwater and James (Jim) Leon Broadwater, Sr.), his great niece (Susan Broadwater) and his great nephew (Charles Riley Broadwater) have been extremely helpful in providing information on Riley’s life. Ms. Susan Broadwater has provided many Internet sites (Refs 6-8) and she has several pictures of Riley, various post cards and Christmas cards as well as a picture of the Destroyer Escort (DE-163) which was named for Captain McConnell. Many of these items were sent to Susan by her Aunt Pauline (Mrs. Hagan Richmond) shortly before Pauline’s death on September 8, 2000. Jim Broadwater has Riley’s diploma from Annapolis and his grandson, Daniel, has a watch which was presented to Riley (while serving as Chief of Staff to Admiral Yarnell in the Asiatic Fleet) from the Governor of the Philippine Islands (Ref. 12). This gold watch has the following inscription in the back cover of the watch: TO SON RILEY WITH HEARTS LOVE GOV. EMIL MOLLENHAUER Riley Broadwater and his son, Charles, provided us with copies of pictures of Captain McConnell standing with Admiral Yarnell and Lieutenant Sylvester on the deck of the heavy cruiser Augusta (CA- 31) which was the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet in the late 1930’s and of the Arlington National Cemetery gravesite for Riley and Grace. Charles also has copies of pictures from a picture album kept by Riley in the late 1930’s. This album has pictures of Riley with various military and government authorities in the Far East, of various historical sites in China, Thailand, Singapore, Netherlands East Indies, Philippine Islands and Australia as well as of the bombing and destruction of several Chinese cities by the Japanese. Captain McConnell was serving with the Asiatic Fleet at the time that the Japanese bombed and sank the U. S. Gunboat Panay (December 12, 1937) in the Yangtze River. Riley had pictures showing some of the injured survivors being brought aboard the Augusta for medical treatment. The rest of the Asiatic Fleet was quite active after this event in rescuing and protecting American citizens at Shanghai and on the Yangtze River. It is probable that Riley won his Navy Cross (Refs 6-8) for distinguished service at this time. This picture album was recently sold at auction in Ohio to a Mr. George Stone of Mt. Sterling, KY. Mr. Stone was unwilling to sell the album to members of the Broadwater family but Charles Broadwater was able to get copies of the pages from it. Mr. Charles Broadwater told us that Riley’s Annapolis ring was donated by Mrs. Grace McConnell to a museum at the Naval Academy. Riley and Grace were very close friends with Admiral and Mrs. Felix X. Gygax. Riley and Felix had served together in the Pacific Fleet and they maintained their friendship while stationed in Washington, D. C. Admiral Gygax was assigned as Commandant of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on August 1, 1941 and he served in that position until October 19, 1944. Grace and Mrs. Gygax invited one of the Broadwater children to live in Washington while Felix was serving at Norfolk (Ref 12). Jo (Mrs. Jo Miles Broadwater Bledsoe) was sure that she would be chosen for this assignment and threw her school books in a creek in Gate City on the way home from school thinking she would not be needing them anymore. However, Jim Broadwater was chosen to go and he spent the school year of 1941-1942 in D.C. He attended the Woodrow Wilson High School in the NW section of D.C. during this time and had a very enjoyable year (Ref 13). This was after Riley’s death in 1940 and Grace was then employed as a housemother in a college dormitory. Ms. Susan Broadwater also provided us with a copy of part of the eulogy (author unknown) given at Riley’s funeral. In the eulogy, it is stated that Riley was a great lover of birds, trees and flowers and that he was responsible for making the San Diego Naval Training Station into a bird sanctuary. He was also very interested in the officers and men under his command. The small golf course on the base was open to enlisted personnel and officers alike. He was seen at times to slip away from officers with whom he was having lunch and to follow some recruits into their chow line. He stayed in line to get his tray full of food and then ate with the recruits. Discussion at the table centered about the food, where the recruits were from and how they were getting along in the Navy. Obviously he was a top notch base commander. Another document dealt with a note sent to “Grando” (Riley’s mother) at the time of the christening of the destroyer escort named for Riley. This note from Berry Howard, Secretary of the Rotary Club in Gate City, stated: “This is a small token of our appreciation for the life and work of a son for whom today is being christened a ship which we are sure will take its place with the fleet performing her duty in the battle for freedom in the same highly gallant manner as the one for whom she is named…………”. Robert M. Addington has a rather complete history of Riley’s life up to the time of the publication of his book in 1932 (Ref 1). Information therein includes: “Riley F. McConnell was born at the homestead of his grandfather, Dr. A. B. McConnell, on Copper Creek, near Wayland, Virginia, July 22, 1884. His parents were J. H. (“Hop”) and Polly Alley McConnell. His early school days were spent in the public free schools of his neighborhood and at Shoemaker College at Gate City, Virginia”. “In 1903, he was appointed to the U. S. Naval Academy by William F. Rhea, from which institution he graduated June 6, 1907. While at the Academy, he took an active part in athletics, making the varsity football, track and gymnasium teams, and was selected as one of ten midshipmen to take a special course in judo (Japanese wrestling)”. Based on a reference (14) supplied by Ms. Susan Broadwater (great niece of Riley), it was learned that Riley was the heaviest man in his class. The instructor for judo, Professor Yoshiaki Yamashita, had been sent to Annapolis in January of 1905 by President Theodore Roosevelt who thought that this training would be beneficial to the Midshipmen. Further information from Mr. Addington’s book includes: “Upon graduation, he was ordered to the USS Vermont, one of the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet then commanded by Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans ………… While on the Vermont, he made his first cruise around the world”. Other duty stations and ships to which he was assigned included those in Reference 1 and 4 as well as several references obtained from Susan Broadwater (Refs 9,10,11): July 8, 1912 – Temporary duty on the Receiving Ship Norfolk at St. Helena. August 12, 1912 – Chief Engineer of USS Des Moines. June 25, 1913 – Navy Yard, Mare Island, California. July 10, 1915 – Took command of USS Fortune. 1917 – Transferred to USS Arkansas (BB-33) as Navigator. The Arkansas served with the British Grand Fleet as part of the Sixth Battle Squadron. After surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at the end of WW I, the Arkansas escorted the ship George Washington to Brest, France as it took President Wilson to the Versailles Peace Conference. November 6, 1920 – Transferred to USS Ohio (BB-12) as Executive Officer and later served as Executive Officer of hospital ship Relief (AH-1) and of the heavy cruiser Chicago (CA-29). 1924 – Graduated from the War College and was assigned to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. 1925 – 1927 – Assigned to Asiatic Fleet at Shanghai, China as Assistant Chief of Staff to Admiral C. S. Wilkinson. After the Asiatic Fleet assignment, he was assigned to the Bureau of Navigation to organize the Merchant Marine Reserve. 1935 – 1936 – Captain of light Cruiser Milwaukee (CL-5). October 30, 1936 – July 25, 1939 – Chief of Staff to Admiral H. E. Yarnell of the Asiatic Fleet. August 22, 1939 – Assumed command of the Naval Training Station at San Diego, California and died while on active duty there on July 12, 1940. Riley’s decorations include the Victory Medal (WW I) for service in the Grand Fleet, Haitian Campaign Medal, Yangtze Service Medal, Navy Cross and Expert Rifleman Medal (Ref 6). Promotions were as follows: June 29, 1903 – Appointed Midshipman June 7, 1907 - Passed Midshipman June 7, 1909 - Ensign June 7, 1912 - Lieutenant, j.g. August 21, 1916 – Lieutenant October 15, 1917 – Lieutenant Commander September 21, 1918 – Commander (Temporary) July 1, 1919 – Lieutenant Commander (Permanent) November 1, 1923 – Commander (Permanent) September 1, 1934 – Captain. It is interesting that he was not commissioned as an Ensign until two years after he graduated from Annapolis. That was the practice at that time and apparently each graduate was on a two year trial period before being commissioned. E. M. McConnell (Ref 2) states that Riley had to cut short his last visit to Gate City in 1934 in order to plan the itinerary and the details of the visit of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Hawaiian Islands. It was perhaps during this visit that Riley “hired” his nephew, Jim Broadwater, to guide him around to various places in Gate City. Jim was paid 50 cents a day for this golden opportunity (Ref 13). E. B. Potter (Ref 15) in his biography of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz lists several Midshipmen who were present at the Naval Academy in the early 1900’s. This list included William Frederick (Bull) Halsey (1904), Husband E. Kimmel (1904), Chester W. Nimitz (1905), Royal Eason Ingersoll (1905), Harold Raynsford Stark (1903), Robert L. Ghormley (1906), Frank Jack Fletcher (1906), Raymond Ames Spruance (1907), John H. Towers, Milo F. Draemel, John Sidney McCain (1906), Aubrey W. Fitch (1906), Thomas Cassin Kinkead (1908), Wilson Brown, Jr. (1902), Henry Kent Hewitt (1907), Felix X. Gygax (1907), Earnest Joseph King (1901), William Satterlee Pye (1901) and Richmond Kelly Turner (1908). The numbers in parentheses denote the year of graduation for these men and these dates were taken from Samuel Eliot Morison’s series of books on the Naval History of WW II (Ref 16). Many of these officers served our country with great distinction during WW II. Mr. Potter reports that the total number of Midshipmen present at Annapolis in the early 1900’s was never more than about 700. For example, there were only 72 in Halsey’s class of 1904 and 114 graduated in 1905. This was a period of expansion at Annapolis because of the shortage of officers during the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the need to staff the expanding Navy under President Theodore Roosevelt. It would have been interesting to see what assignments that Riley would have drawn if he had lived in the time period of WW II. There were a total of 405 senior officers (Captain or Admiral) on the promotion list of 1940 and Riley was number 192 on that list (Ref 17). The Destroyer Escort McConnell (DE-163) was named for Riley (Refs 7, 8, 18). Its keel was laid down on October 19, 1942 at the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newark, N. J. and the ship was launched March 28, 1943. It was sponsored by Riley’s widow, Mrs. Grace Otteson McConnell and commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on May 28, 1943. Riley’s nephew, Jim, was present at the christening ceremony with his Aunt Grace when he was about 16 years old. The McConnell was rated at 1240 tons with maximum speed of 21 knots. Her armament included three 3-inch guns and three 21-inch torpedo tubes. After a shakedown cruise near Bermuda and training out of Norfolk, the McConnell sailed for the west coast via the Panama Canal and arrived at San Francisco on September 10, 1943 (Refs 7, 8). Departing San Francisco on September 20, 1943, she escorted various ships to Pearl Harbor, Samoa, New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. She spent the rest of the war in escort duty, antisubmarine work, shore bombardment activities and rescue missions in the Southwest, Central and Western Pacific areas. After the capitulation of Japan on August 15, 1945, the McConnell transported American occupation forces to Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. On September 5, 1945, Japanese officers from Jaluit came aboard to surrender their forces on the island. The McConnell departed the Marshall Islands on September 16, 1945 to sail via the west coast to New York City. She was decommissioned in November, 1945 and remained in the reserve fleet until 1969. DE-163 received three battle stars for WW II service. She was stricken from the Navy Register on October 1, 1972 and was sold for scrap on March 21, 1974 (Refs 8, 19). The authors are very much indebted to several members of the Broadwater family for their gracious assistance in this endeavor. This list includes Susan Broadwater of Charlottesville, VA as well as Riley, Jim, Charles, Nancy and Daniel Broadwater of Gate City, VA. We also wish to thank Ms. Tracy Richardson of Lexington, KY and Ms. Melissa Dixon of Kingsport, TN for their help in finding certain Internet sites and information for us in the early stages of this study. References:
Richard L. McConnell Wayne V. McConnell 401-E Manor Drive 1509 Ardmore Place Kingsport, TN 37660 Kingsport, TN 37664
September 4, 2005 |
|
Send mail to
suchen@mindspring.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
